Visitors Now:
Total Visits:
Total Stories:
Profile image
By Food Safety News (Reporter)
Contributor profile | More stories
Story Views

Now:
Last Hour:
Last 24 Hours:
Total:

Members of Congress Ask That Seafood Safety Be Part of TPP Negotiation

Friday, November 30, 2012 11:32
% of readers think this story is Fact. Add your two cents.

(Before It's News)

By News Desk

Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), Senator Mary Landrieu (D-LA) and Congressman Walter Jones (R-N.C.) sent a letter to the Obama Administration Thursday asking that public health be a focus during the negotiations for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Free Trade Agreement.

The lawmakers are concerned that, as result of expanded trade with Vietnam and Malaysia – two of the countries included in TPP – the United States could see an influx of imported contaminated seafood. Currently, around 90 percent of the seafood consumed is imported.

In a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk, the members urged him to pursue agreements with these two countries to help ensure the safety of the American food supply.

The members note that in Fiscal Year 2012, imported seafood products from Vietnam, the fifth largest exporter of shrimp to the United States, were refused entry 206 times because of concerns including filth, decomposition, drug residues, unapproved food additives and Salmonella.

“Meanwhile… U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials determined that some exporters in Malaysia have acted as conduits to transship Chinese shrimp to the United States in order to circumvent both FDA Import Alerts and antidumping duties,” they wrote in the letter. “We strongly believe that these critical food safety issues should be resolved prior to the conclusion of the TPP FTA negotiations in order to best protect the public health from these known health risks.”

The letter suggest that bilateral agreements that focus on strict inspection and certification would be in “the U.S. public’s best interest.”

Read the full letter here.



Source:

Report abuse

Comments

Your Comments
Question   Razz  Sad   Evil  Exclaim  Smile  Redface  Biggrin  Surprised  Eek   Confused   Cool  LOL   Mad   Twisted  Rolleyes   Wink  Idea  Arrow  Neutral  Cry   Mr. Green

Top Stories
Recent Stories

Register

Newsletter

Email this story
Email this story

If you really want to ban this commenter, please write down the reason:

If you really want to disable all recommended stories, click on OK button. After that, you will be redirect to your options page.